Category: Announcements

Teaching/Montana Institute for Book Arts, August 10-14, 2026.

In a rare event these days, I will be teaching a class on Innovative Book Structures during the second session, August 10-14, 2026, of the inaugural Montana Institute for the Book Arts sponsored by the University of Montana. Session one will be held in Missoula, MT, the second session will be held at the historic Flathead Lake Biological Station, just south of Glacier National Park. Additional information: umt.edu/um-press/MIBA The class I will be teaching is Paper in Motion: Getting Up off the Page. Movable devices in books have had a job to do from the very start. As early as the 14th century, these devices helped the viewer calculate religious holidays with a volvelle or go on a pilgrimage with lift flaps, and in later times they were used for scientific and educational purposes. Paper engineering can play a primary role in the presentation of content to the reader. In this session, participants will explore various moveable devices and structures, while considering how to make use of these techniques in their own work. A variety of movable, sculptural, pop-up and dimensional possibilities such as wheels, flexagons, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-ups, tunnels, and other aspects of paper engineering will be presented. The emphasis will be on experimentation and creating models rather than finished products. We will also discuss how the content of an artist’s book can be reflected in its form and view examples of pop-up and movable artists’ books.

Devils & Evils, Dante’s Divine Comedy Revisited: An Unholy Tragedy

I am happy to announce the completion of my new book Devils & Evils. The book uses an eight-panel sculptural tunnel book format and can be viewed in two ways; in its compressed state it can be pivoted in the hands to more easily read the circular text. Additionally, the side hinges allow the eight panels to be stretched out to view the text as it descends into the depths of the structure. This format allows for the three-dimensional embodiment of a pictorial form originating in the Middle Ages, the hellmouth. A hellmouth is a visual representation of the entrance to Hell, typically depicted as the gaping maw of a beast or a monster swallowing up the sinners deserving of the punishments of hell. In my modern iteration, I have chosen a specific person as the monster however he isn’t alone, many others have supported and encouraged his heinous acts. All of us are caught up in this hell, the innocents, the guilty, the indifferent, and the well-intended. The ecological sins on our planet will eventually visit punishments on us all. My thanks to all the wonderful people at the University of Iowa Special Collections, the Newberry Library, and the Library of Congress Rare Book Room for their assistance while I was researching Dante, hellmouths, and demons. The tunnel book is letterpress printed on 270 gsm Colorplan pristine white paper, using collagraphs, and photo polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The face tinting is pastel applied by hand. The hinge paper is 135 gsm Coloplan pale gray paper. The book is enclosed in a cloth covered tri-fold wrapper. The side text panels are printed on 135 gsm Colorplan real gray paper, the back panel is 135 gsm Colorplan smoke gray paper. The wrapper is contained in a cloth covered clamshell box. The edition size might be as large as 30 copies. The book was begun in 2025 in the aftermath of the 2024 election and completed in 2026.

Meggendorfer Artist’s Book Prize Winner

My book Navigational Tools for the Willfully Lost was selected by jurors Julie Chen and Hiromi Takeda as the winner of the 2025 Meggendorfer Artist’s Book Prize at the biannual meeting of the international Movable Book Society in St. Louis, MO. A link to a short video can be found on the Videos page of this website.

Juror and 2023 Artist Book Prize winner Hiromi Takeda noted: “The movement and structure of the pop-up mechanisms carried a deep sense of meaning, and it was the work that lingered with us the most.” Juror and Keynote Speaker Julie Chen noted: “This book beautifully integrates movable mechanisms into the content of the book so that the reader’s interaction with the movables become an important part of the reading experience. The book is beautifully printed and bound as well.” MBS Director and Newberry Library curator Suzanne Karr Schmidt noted: “During the Newberry fellowship where she researched this artist book, Emily closely examined dozens of sixteenth-century volvelles. Then she modernized them, making them wonderfully her own.Emily Martin was awarded a Jan and Frank Cicero artist’s research fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois in 2023, where she studied, primarily, their many editions of Peter Apian’s Cosmographia from the 16th century, a time of scientific revolution. Apian included a set of five paper instruments in each of his editions. Martin made a new set of wry visual aids for those who will not, cannot see what is really happening in our time of plague, not just medical but political, ecological, and more. ” The book has 24 pages and five paper tools, all volvelle variations of Martin’s devising. Copies of this limited edition book are held in the Library of Congress, the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford;  the University of Iowa, the Newberry Library, and Stanford University among others. 

Personal Demons, a suite of RISO prints

I am happy to announce the completion of my suite of RISO prints called Personal Demons. A bit from the colophon: Demons are said to symbolize our internal fears, traumas, addictions, negative emotions, and self-limiting beliefs. Embracing your demons can be a way to limit their harmful effects. I’ve gone a bit farther and have chosen to name them and in describing their singular foibles, to make light of their capacity to harm me. It might be thought that I am being flippant about a serious mental health issue. I would suggest they have a chat with Bobo.

Five prints, 12” x 9” on Mohawk Superfine White i-Tone eggshell 80-pound text paper. The sets of demons and this colophon page are enclosed in a glassine envelope. Edition of 50. Link for more information on my profile page. The set: $75.00 + $5.00 postage, total: $80.00. Individual Prints: $20.00 + $5.00 postage, total $25.00. Order through the contact link.

The Solitude Squadron Chronicle

The paper puppets now known as the Solitude Squadron will go to the Library of Congress soon. To accompany them I have made a compilation of the studio journal entries, Instagram posts, and memories now available for $35.00 as a print on demand book from Lulu.

https://www.lulu.com/shop/emily-martin/the-solitude-squadron-chronicle/paperback/product-2m5jm2p.html?q=solitude+squadron&page=1&pageSize=4

Navigational Tools for The Willfully Lost

Navigational Tools for the Willfully Lost, 8” x 8”, closed. In current times, our world seems to be very much off its axis. We are in a time of plague, not just medical but political, ecological, and more. The wholesale denial of science and rational thought coupled with the embrace of superstition and misinformation are signaling a need for a return to fact-based actions and ideas, a renewed age of enlightenment. In an attempt to not be completely bleak, I offer this set of wry visual aids for those who will not, cannot see what is really happening. This book began with my application for a Jan and Frank Cicero artist’s fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, in the fall of 2021. For many months the project only existed as the title, a few notes, and a call list for the library. In the spring of 2023, I spent a month in the reading rooms looking at many wonderful books, primarily their many editions of Peter Apian’s Cosmographia from the 16th century, a time of scientific revolution. Apian included a set of five paper instruments in each of his editions. The paper instruments enabled readers to participate in 16th. century mathematical and astrological calculations. Seeing and manipulating the many examples of those centuries old and still functional devices was invaluable to me as I began to work on my own paper tools. I spent the fall of 2023 bringing the tools and the text to their finished forms. The book has 24 pages and five paper tools, all volvelle variations of my devising. The images are from my trace monoprint drawings. The fonts used are Baskerville, Gill Sans and Trattatello. The book was printed letterpress on my Vandercook SP15 printing press using polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The text is printed on Rives BFK, the tools on Chancery paper. The tools are backed with Text Wove paper, hand cut and assembled. The binding is a combination slotted tape/long stitch using flax and abaca cover paper made by Mary Hark. The edition size is 25 standard copies, two deluxe copies, and a couple of artist’s proofs. Will be completed in 2024.

Progress on My New Book

Printing has been completed on my new book Navigational Tools for the Willfully Lost. I am beginning assembly of the five paper tools that will be included in each book. This book arises from my research fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago last spring. Shown above are the movable components of the paper tools. The book will be completed in time for the Codex book fair.

My Talk at the University of Washington is on YouTube

I gave an overview of my evolving work, as represented in the UW Libraries Book Arts Collection in a talk for the Book Arts Guild at the University of Washington libraries, on March 9, 2023. The recording has been posted to YouTube. The introduction is by Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator, UW Libraries. There are a few intrusions of announcements about the library closing hours. The recording is one hour long,  the talk ends after about 50 minutes and then there are some questions and answers.

I include this caveat from the BAG: “This was our first ever hybrid event and we’re clearly not that good with the camera in the UW classroom. The beginning is hard to hear, the ending is abrupt, and we haven’t figured out how to make her more visible while talking. But during her talk you can see her slides and hear Emily clearly, so the main part is good.”

Jan and Frank Cicero Fellowship award

I have been awarded a one month Jan and Frank Cicero artist-in-Residence fellowship at the Newberry Library, Chicago for spring 2023. The fellowship will support my work and research for an upcoming artist’s book with the working title of “Navigational Tools for the Willfully Lost”.  I will concentrate my studies on the 16th century navigational and cosmographical texts of the Edward E. Ayer collection. The Ayer collection contains a large number of texts with paper tools such as the Apian Cosmographia 1584 and many more. My project will likely include a combination of paper volvelles, pop-up maps, and prediction/explanation devices relevant to our current time of plague, one not only medical but political, ecological and more, and completion is expected by late 2023, early 2024.